Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

CALIFORNIA: LATINO GROUPS BLAST MEDI-CAL PROGRAM

The Latino Coalition for a Healthy California lambasted Medi-Cal's new managed care program, saying it was "'rife with deficiencies' that, combined with upheaval fostered by federal welfare reform, endangers basic health care services to impoverished Latinos and other minorities," Los Angeles Times reports. The group specifically charged that implementation of the managed care program for low-income residents "is being hampered by a lack of community education and outreach." In addition, the coalition said "[t]he transition to the new Medi-Cal system in Los Angeles County, where more than half of the 1.2 million targeted beneficiaries are Latino, is particularly precarious." THE COALITION'S REPORT The coalition's 16-page critique "blasted the state's approach to managed care for the poor, citing inadequate translation of enrollment materials, poor or inaccurate beneficiary education, botched or questionable patient enrollment practices, and paltry payments and support for doctors and hospitals that were the backbone of the old Medi-Cal system." The report further noted that federal welfare reform, coupled with the deficiencies of the Medi-Cal program, will make it "even more difficult for women and children to enroll in Medi-Cal and navigate the system." A "TERSE" REPLY A state health official who oversees Medi-Cal offered only a "terse" reply to the coalition's report. "I was not provided with a copy of this report until this morning. ... I would have appreciated receiving (it) on a more timely basis in light of our efforts to work with this organization," said J. Douglas Porter. Times notes that full implementation of the new Medi-Cal program -- which offers enrollees a choice between two HMOs -- has been put on hold by the federal government and is not expected until January at the earliest (Marquis, 8/26). ANOTHER CONTENTIOUS ISSUE: PRENATAL CARE CUT In separate news, a California appellate court ruled yesterday in favor of Gov. Pete Wilson's (R) plan "to cut off prenatal care for 70,000 illegal immigrant women on an emergency basis without public hearings," Los Angeles Times reports. The aid cuts come as part of Wilson's "aggressive" effort to deny benefits to illegal residents and are similar to cuts proposed under California's Proposition 187. Attorneys on both sides of the issue "said the ruling could provide an important precedent as the Wilson administration proceeds with ambitious plans to deny illegal immigrants access to more than 200 other state services, from mental health care to fishing licenses." The prenatal care regulations are scheduled to take effect December 1; new applicants will be unable to qualify for assistance starting November 1. LEADER OF THE PACK The prenatal cuts fall under last year's federal welfare reform act, which "mandated that state and local governments end virtually all nonemergency public aid to 'not qualified' immigrants." Times notes that the welfare act did not stipulate a timetable for implementing the cuts, but "[n]o other state has moved as aggressively as California to comply with the ban." GRAVE CONCERN Robert Newman, an attorney with Los Angeles-based Western Center of Law and Poverty, said, "Once these regulations go into effect, we're going to see untold numbers of children being born with preventable birth defects, and that's going to cost money to all California taxpayers." The Times reports that California's annual costs of providing "prenatal care for illegal immigrants is $83.7 million" a year (McDonnell/Lesher, 8/26). Click here for a related article about Gov. Wilson's attempts to cut prenatal care.

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